Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-14
A DESPERATE CONVICT,
His Determined Attempt to Escape from
Folsom Prison.


Folsom Prison.
The State Prison Directors visited the
prison at Folsom last Saturday, and on
Sunday, in accordance with their usual
custom, the members inspected the prison
hospitals, ETC., and made special visits to all
| convicts who were undergoing punishment
in solitary confinement. This is the usual
practice, as II makes the members of the
Board check on the Warden in the matter
OF punishments, and gives all the prisoners
an opportunity to make any complaints or
explanations they choose
dispatch to the San Francisco Post
says that as the Directors were about to call
on Conrad Schmitt they were told that he
had just attempted to escape, and they at
| once went into his cell.
Schmitt is Hollander by birth, stone
cutter by trade, the most desperate convict
in the prison, and one of the most daring
| jail breakers IN America. He is serving a
term of twelve years for burglary, and
when that is out he will have TO 90 back to
Joliet Prison, whence he escaped about four
years ago, leaving an unexpired sentence
| 10 his discredit.
DESPERATE MAN.
On his arrival at Folsom he was set to
| work at stonecutting, and proved good
prisoner for some time, but one morning
early the guard heard the sound of stone
scraping, and soon Schmitts head emerged
| from hole he had cut in the roof of his
cell The guard drove him back at the
muzzle of his pistol, and Schmitt was put
IN solitary confinement. Since then he has
| made six attempts to escape and it has
been we'll understood in the prison for
| long time that he has made up his mind to
commit murder in the Jail that he might
be taken for trial to Sacramento JAIL from
which he can easily escape.
THE SIDE OF CELL CUT OUT.
"Schmitt has cut the whole side of the
cell out" said the guard, as the Directors
| made their way to the place, and so it
| seemed when the door was opened
There stood the daring convict, naked
save for pair of pantaloons, his hands be-
hind his back, his attitude expressive OF
| total indifference TO results, his skin
| bleached by the confinement of dark cell,
| as soft and white as a babys, yet the
| muscles stood out on his arms and breast,
and his splendidly built and noble frame
! gave him the appearance of an Apollo.
If you had put your head through the
| hole you made you would have been shot
| dead" said one of the visitors.
" 1t was worth the chance" was the re-
ply and his tone indicated the most COM
| plete disregard of consequences.
! The cell was in a cloud of dust and
| smoke. The smoke came from a piece of
paper he had burnt in pan to hide his
work in case the guard looked in, and the
| dust was from the cement which he had
| hacked out from between the stone blocks
| in particles. Huge blocks of granite that
he had cut out lay upon the floor, he was
bathed in sweat. and with the evidences of
his work around him it looked almost as
| though Titan had been tearing down the
labor of pigmies.
| A piece of wire taken from the bail of his
bucket and sharpened on the wall was his
| only tool.
| With this tiny implement he had cut out
| the cement and removed the blocks till but
one course of masonry remained to bar his
egress, and from that the cement had been
nearly all removed. Under his blankets
he had hidden lot of stone and cement
that he had previously removed.
| He had been manacled, but had picked
| the locks of his leg irons with apiece of
wire hammered into a key with bit of
rock.
"Why are you naked ?" asked one of the
Directors. Have you no clothes?"
| ''I can work better like this" was the
cool reply.
HE INTENDED TO KILL.
| The guards then searched his cell and
| found two pieces Of wire sharpened to a
needle point and ground to cutting edge.
formed in the shape of dagger, with a
bent piece of wire for a handle, and lashed
around with bedticking 1t made an ugly
and dangerous weapon-a dagger that
would kill.
"What is this for?" was asked
u made it to kill Captain Powell was
Schmitt's reply.
His intention was clear He had made
up his mind to creep along the corridor.
sneak up behind Powell, the Captain of
| the Guard, kill him with the dagger, take
his pistol and with it fight his way to lib
erty. If caught he would be taken to Sac
ramento for trial, and from there his escape
would be easy, but the scrapIng of his wire
tool against the cement of the wall was
] heard, and his desperate plan checked.
He was taken to another cell, doubly man =
acled and special watch put over him.
A dispatch to the RECORD UNION states
that Schmitt is the most desperate iail-
breaker in the country. He has escaped
from the Southern Illinois Penitentiary
twice, and has broken out from other pris-
ons. This is bis sixth attempt to break
| from Folsom, but the officers there are
confident he viii not get out before his
time, unless he goes to the cemetery.
Stone walls ana shackles will not hold him
but there is always a shotgun bearing on
J bic oell